If We've Still Got the Right
by TheBrightestNight
Summary: Fine! / We're damaged. / Really damaged. / But that does not make us wise! / We're not different. / We're not special. / We don't choose who lives or dies.


**Inspired by the song, "Seventeen" from** _ **Heathers: The Musical**_ **.**

 **This is kind of…an extension of lucifersfavoritechild's (AO3) soulmate AU, Colors (** **/works/11423040/chapters/25592562)** **. It pulls in a bit of my story, It's the Perfect Story—just the scene where Tori finds out that Luke was working for Kronos, but spins in a wildly different direction. It will follow the structure of the song, and have some lyrics from the song.**

 **I hope I do this justice.**

* * *

" _You_ summoned the hellhound, that night in the forest," Percy accused, his voice rough and angry.

A million emotions shot through Tori in that moment, and she was stunned at how colorful they all were. Having been able to see color for five years now, you'd think she'd have finally gotten used to it. Finally gotten used to the array and spectrum of colors _The Color Thesaurus_ covered and, as she would come to find, didn't _quite_ cover.

But this was different for her.

Having seen hellhounds in only black, white, and grey had been terrifying enough as a fourteen year old.

But seeing them up-close? In Technicolor, with those ruby red eyes, and those odd gleaming white, translucent teeth, the foamy, white slobber, and the coal black fur…somehow, despite it being a color she knew all too well, the fur looked darker, blacker. Put altogether and her fear of them only expanded and grew into something she could barely control.

To find out that Luke, her _soulmate_ , had let that… _thing_ into their camp—

Tori still hadn't gotten used to colors covering her vision; it didn't happen often and she couldn't remember a time before she met Luke when a grey haze had covered her vision. But right now it was tinged with red.

Her heart pounded unsteadily in her chest, and her breathing was shaking, ragged.

" _How could you?_ " she roared, jumping from the tree she'd been hiding in and stomping over to Luke, not even registering the coldness of the creek.

Luke, upon her arrival, turned with wide eyes. Tori still couldn't get over how blue they were. Despite having stared into them countless times for five years now. Seeing emotion swirl within them always fascinated her.

Right now, his were swirling with shock, which quickly turned into confusion and fear.

Luke's sword arm dipped and he immediately turned toward her, wading into the creek as well, meeting her half-way. Percy remained sitting on the other bank, still with that black thing on his leg.

"Tori—" he tried, but she shoved him away. Hurt flashed in those blue depths, but she was too angry to feel bad about it. (Well, not too bad. She still felt bad.) And it wasn't just that he'd summoned her worst nightmare into camp, a place she felt safe. No, it was _everything_.

"You're working for Kronos?" she yelled, ignoring the cold breeze that blasted through the forest.

"Yes. And you can help me, you know," Luke said, his voice low, fervent. "I know he's been sending you dreams, too. We've both been chosen to help him."

"To do _what_?" she asked, my throat closing up.

"Overthrow the gods." Luke took another step toward her, his eyes alight with some twisted excitement, but also, strangely enough, darkened, like a shadow had fallen cross his face. Tori wondered vaguely how _The Color Thesaurus_ might describe that color, what its label would be. " _We_ could rule the world—demigods. Who have been used, and thrown to the side, _forgotten_."

"If we started a war with the gods, when would the bloodshed ever _end_?"

"When all the gods are dead," Luke shouted, stepping ever closer, getting into Tori's face. She didn't think she'd ever seen such anger and hatred in his eyes before. "Thrown to the side! _Forgotten!_ "

Out of instinct, Tori shoved him back. He stumbled, splashing in the river, coming to a stop near the edge of the opposite bank. She immediately felt bad for it, but before she could say anything, let alone apologize, the words caught in her throat at Luke's expression.

Another thing Tori thought she'd never get used to: the ways eyes seemed to change with emotion.

Luke's eyes froze over, like ice on a lake. (A color they ought to add to _The Color Thesaurus_.) His lips turned down in a deep frown, his eyebrows mashing together.

"You, of _all_ people, should know what I'm talking about!" he snapped, stepping toward her, gripping the hilt of his sword. "Your father claimed your brother, but he didn't claim you."

"So, _what_?" she snapped back. "Yeah, I'm fucking pissed about it. And I will _always_ be pissed. Some part of me will… _always_ hate him for what he's done." Tori had to stop, to blink tears from her eyes and swallow the bile in her throat. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to…overthrow the gods! _Help_ a titan take over the world!"

Luke stared at her, anger still swirling in those blue depths. Both their chests were heaving.

"You're right," Tori finally said, her voice ragged, the heat from her own anger dying. The red tinge faded. Her world had turned back to the colors she'd come to know. "We're pretty fucked up." Tears flooded her eyes as she reached up to grip her left arm, feeling her scars through her shirt. "But that doesn't mean we have some…higher calling. That we get to decide what is right and wrong to our benefit." She paused. "Can't we just be…normal?"

Luke rolled his eyes and scoffed.

"As normal as a demigod's life can be?" Tori amended. "Spar with each other in the arena. Sneak soda into camp. Watch the strawberry vines dance to the songs the nymphs and satyrs play for them. We're _just_ teenagers, Luke? Can't we be _just_ that?

"As fucked up as my life has been, these past five years have been some of the best. Because of _you_. And that's all I want, is to be with you. Don't you want that, too? For you? For us?" Tori dropped her hand from her arm, and blinked, tears streaming down her cheeks. It was always baffling to her that people colored tears blue, when that's not what she thought they were. She also hated how they blurred her vision. In color, it was more disorienting. "The gods…they don't care about us."

Luke looked away. "Or our mortal parents."

"And, yeah, it's super shitty. But you can't let that anger control you, Luke. And I know I'm making it sound easier said than done, and maybe you feel like I'm invalidating your feelings—but I'm _not_. I promise you, I'm not. I'm angry, too. Just like you were there for me after my father claimed my brother, I'll be here for you. I will let you feel that anger, but I will also help you through it. In a way that…won't kill you." Tori let him take her words in before she spoke again, "We can go for a canoe ride on the lake."

Luke inclined his head slightly toward Tori, but kept his eyes on the flowing river. "I can show you how to pick a lock."

A smile pulled at Tori's lips. "We can sneak out, grab some junk food, and have a picnic in the forest. I can bring my guitar."

Luke lifted his head slowly, finally meeting Tori's eyes. She could see the darkness raging war. "Will you sing for me?"

"Always." Tori held out her hand for him. "We're demigods, sure, but that doesn't mean we can't be teens, right?"

Keeping his gaze locked with Tori's, Luke started forward, toward her. And, for the one and only time Tori had _ever_ seen Luke do such a thing, he dropped his sword. It splashed in the river, becoming completely submerged, but Luke continued towards Tori.

He stopped a foot away. The shadow over his face had returned, his eyes turning a frostbite color if that was even possible.

Tori held out her hand a little farther, keeping Luke's gaze.

"You have to let me in, Luke," she said softly. "Let me in. _I'm here for you_."

Slowly, like he was fighting against himself, Luke lifted his hand. When their hands met, it was like the first time they'd touched and the world had been flooded in screaming color. Tori felt like she was seeing color for the very first time, everything so vibrant and fantastic. _Beautiful._

The shadow across Luke's face vanished and the forest let out a warm sigh.

A wide smile broke across Tori's face, as tears streamed from her eyes. She squeezed Luke's hand before they both went in for a kiss. A kiss that warmed her to her very core. A kiss that said, _I want you, I need you, I've got you. Always._

When they broke apart, blue met brown. Their hearts felt like they were beating in sync.

"Yeah, we're damaged," Tori murmured, reaching up to gently stroke Luke's scar.

"Badly damaged," Luke said quietly as he gently ran his fingers against Tori's scars, through her shirt. "But I don't want to lose you."

Tori threw her arms around his neck, holding him to her tightly. "I don't want to lose you, either," she whispered, more tears filling her eyes as Luke's arms came around her waist.

"Our lives are too far from normal," Luke said, rubbing her back. "But I think we can still be teenagers."

"I'll stay with you as long as you want," Tori said, barely registering his words. Relief had flooded through her, but had anxiety quickly snuck up, easily taking its place. What if he really didn't want her? What if he was falling out of love? It wasn't unheard of with soulmates. At least, in the stories she'd read. "I promise. As long as you want me."

Luke pulled back and caressed her face, stroking her cheek with his thumb. "You know," he started with a lopsided grin and a mischievous glint in his eyes. "You're promising forever, right?"

Tori's lips pulled into a smile and they kissed again, slower this time. But with so much and such intense emotion behind it, she felt whole again.

* * *

 **I almost made this really sad (I still might, honestly). But I thought, let's do something happy for a change, yeah? I had a stressful, emotional day yesterday.**

 **I'm not sure how it turned out, but I hope you enjoyed regardless. I tried to fit in the soulmate AU thing, but it was kind of hard because at this point, they'd be pretty used to colors, you'd think. Still, I did my best.**

 **Finally, I'd like to clarify, this takes place** _ **just within the context of the song**_ **, not the entire musical. So this is what leads to their happy ending—I say happy, but they're both alive and still together, so I mean, it's better than what happened in canon. So if you've seen the musical—or haven't, SPOILERS (kinda)—Luke doesn't go back to helping Kronos. The buck stops here, Kronos finds another victim, the Second Titan War still happens, but Luke and Tori stay together at camp the whole time, and they get their happy ending. Just in case you were wondering.**

 **It'd fare much better as, like, a music video, but since I don't have most of the resources to do so, I wrote it as a fic. So, here you go.**

 **As always, I hope you enjoyed! Comments are much appreciated! ^_^**

 **Thank you for reading,  
** **TheBrightestNight**


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